Obituary: Evelyn Barbirolli | Music | The Guardian Evelyn Barbirolli Share on Messenger Close Luck, fate, or whatever you care to call it, played a more than usually strong part in the career of the distinguished oboist Evelyn Rothwell, who has died aged 97. Though reluctant to use the name of her husband, the great conductor Sir John Barbirolli, during his lifetime, after his death in 1970 she dropped Rothwell as her professional name and was known as Evelyn Barbirolli. Born in Wallingford-on-Thames, Berkshire, Evelyn was educated at Downe House, near Newbury. Unusually for a girls' school then, it had a full orchestra. She was in the choir for most of her time there, but during her last term both the oboists in the orchestra left, and she was persuaded to take up the instrument to fill the gap. She was given a cheap oboe and lessons with a local amateur, who, among other things, told her to grip the instrument between her knees to hold it steady.

After six months of battling with it, Evelyn was encouraged by a musical aunt, rather against her will, to try for a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London. "I could barely play the thing," she said, though she was awarded an initial one-year scholarship based on her potential. It was by good fortune that there were so few oboe players around at the time, and the then principal, Sir Hugh Allen, told her: "If you do what I think you'll do, I'll renew the scholarship for three years" - which, of course, he did. She soon acquired a better instrument, a Louis (predecessor of the present Howarth oboes). Evelyn's professor was Leon Goossens, but he showed little interest in teaching. She badly needed practical help, and found it difficult to progress, feeling that by the end of her time at the college she had been "dragged up". Many London theatres at that time had their own small orchestras, and Evelyn was frequently asked to deputise for other players during her student years. Playing at sight in the pit, often from illegible manuscripts, was a valuable experience.

On one occasion, she was required to play on stage, behind the curtain, before the opening of a show. There was no music-stand, so she pinned her score to the curtain and began to play. Suddenly, the curtain began to rise, taking the music with it. Straining on tiptoe, she somehow managed to continue - and then improvise - for as long as necessary. There were plenty of other small jobs too: ensembles for BBC programmes, a weekly spot for Radio Luxembourg (always broadcasting live) and all-day sessions at Elstree film studios. Luck struck again while Evelyn was playing second oboe to Goossens in a production of Land of Smiles. He was absent one night, and she had to take on the first oboe part. A viola player noticed the quality of her playing and told his brother, a conductor, about her. He, in turn, invited Evelyn to audition for the Covent Garden Touring Orchestra. She could not read the signature on his letter, but presumed it to be Barkworth, and went along. He asked her to play a difficult extract from The Bartered Bride, which she could not manage, but she promised to practise it. He offered her the job.

His name proved not to be Barkworth, but Barbirolli. After two years, Evelyn went on to play with the Scottish National Orchestra and at Glyndebourne; she later progressed to the London Symphony Orchestra, where she and fellow oboist Natalie Caine were the first women to join the ensemble. In July 1939 Evelyn married John, and her orchestral playing career came to an end. She went with her husband to the United States, where he was conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and they stayed there until 1943. Crossing the Atlantic, particularly in wartime, was difficult and dangerous, and when the Barbirollis wanted to return many strings had to be pulled (including special permission from Winston Churchill) to get them a passage on a neutral ship to Lisbon. There they were told that they had to wait a week for a flight to England. The actor Leslie Howard was also in Lisbon, and when he decided to delay his return home, the couple exchanged tickets with him. They went on to Manchester, where John was to take charge of the Hallé Orchestra. A week later, they heard that the plane bringing Howard home had been shot down.

After the idyllic years in the US, wartime Manchester came as something of a shock. There was no money and few players, and it was by sheer force of personality and hard work that John recreated the Hallé almost from scratch. At first, Evelyn worked in the orchestra office, but gradually began to practise the oboe again and developed a career as a soloist, first of all with the Hallé and then further afield. In 1948 she gave the first performance of the newly discovered Mozart Oboe Concerto at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She also performed the premiere of the Martinu Oboe Concerto, which was commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Several composers dedicated works to her. She collaborated closely with Gordon Jacob in the writing of his Oboe Concerto, which he originally dedicated to her. For reasons of the prestige of the first performance, the dedication was changed to Goossens - an action Jacob later regretted. Arnold Cooke, Arthur Benjamin, Edmund Rubbra and Elizabeth Maconchy also wrote works for Evelyn, and John, who was knighted in 1949, arranged concertos from music by Corelli and Pergolesi.

Evelyn had duos with the pianist Iris Loveridge and harpsichordist Valda Aveling, and taught at the Northern College of Music, Manchester, and later at the Royal Academy of Music, London. "We had a good system," she recalled. "There was Janet Craxton, Michael Dobson and Tess Miller, and we all used to swap pupils. Janet was good on intonation; I was good on breathing. It worked well!" The Barbirollis decided against having children, as their active careers would have made for a very unstable home life. They travelled and worked together a great deal until Sir John's death in July 1970. In later years Evelyn continued to travel widely, adjudicating at festivals and competitions. She was perceptive, wise and kind, and had an astonishing capacity for remembering the names of students, even after very brief encounters. She was delighted when, in 1994, George Christie invited her to the opening of the new opera house at Glyndebourne. She had played there in the very first season, 60 years before.

Her love of gardening developed into a passion, and her garden in Hampstead, north London, was featured in Country Life and occasionally opened to the public. · Evelyn Rothwell, Lady Barbirolli, oboist, born January 24 1911; died January 25 2008 Lady Barbirolli - Telegraph Obituaries Lady Barbirolli Evelyn Barbirolli with her husband the great conductor Sir John Barbirolli: they were a striking and contrasted pair 12:01AM GMT 26 Jan 2008 Lady Barbirolli, who died on January 25 aged 97, was an oboist of the highest distinction and the widow of the great conductor Sir John Barbirolli; she was also a woman of incandescent charm and strength of character, with a gift for friendship which amounted to genius. She rose to fame in her profession under her maiden name Evelyn Rothwell in an era when there were many fewer women in orchestras than there are today (and they were usually harpists).

Yet she came to the oboe comparatively late (at the age of 17) and only by chance or coercion - "I didn't take up the oboe, it took me up" was how she described it. The two oboists in the orchestra at her school, Downe House, near Newbury, left at the same time and the music staff asked her to "have a go". She did not even know what an oboe looked like, but she played it somehow, had some lessons and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. There she became a pupil of Leon Goossens, the outstanding oboist of his time. He was not, she said later, a good technical teacher, but his pupils learned by listening to him and trying to imitate him. Already, though, Evelyn Rothwell was being noticed for the natural beauty of her tone. To gain experience while a student, she applied for casual engagements in London theatre orchestras and with broadcasting ensembles such as Reginald King's salon orchestra (leader, Alfredo Campoli) and Lew Stone's band.

She played at the Lyric when Dodie Smith's play Autumn Crocus was running there and in Millöcker's operetta The Dubarry at His Majesty's. On one evening she sang among the tenors in the Covent Garden chorus at a performance of Boris Godunov for the sum of £4 10s. In 1934 she and her friend Natalie James were auditioned by the conductor Fritz Busch, who was assembling an orchestra for the first Glyndebourne season. They were appointed first and second oboe and played there until the outbreak of war. Busch gave Evelyn Rothwell a photograph inscribed "To the best of all oboe players". Many of the Glyndebourne orchestra were members of the London Symphony Orchestra, and they invited Evelyn Rothwell and Natalie James to take part in a broadcast concert, the first women to play in the orchestra. Evelyn Rothwell was born at Wallingford-on-Thames, Berkshire, on January 24 1911. Her father was a tea dealer in the City; her mother was a descendant of the Victorian novelist Charles Reade, author of The Cloister and the Hearth.

When Evelyn won her RCM scholarship, she had to overcome paternal opposition to the idea of a musical career, but her mother supported her. At the college her second instrument was the piano, but she also studied the cello and played the timpani. Among her fellow students was Benjamin Britten, who occasionally asked her to try out pieces he had composed for another woman oboist. In July 1931 Evelyn took over from Goossens, who was away, as first oboe in the Drury Lane orchestra for Lehár's The Land of Smiles, with Richard Tauber singing You are my heart's delight several times a night. A violist in the orchestra was Peter Barbirolli. He knew his elder brother John was looking for an oboist for a six-week season at the Royal Opera House by the Covent Garden touring company, of which he was musical director. Peter suggested Evelyn Rothwell. When she received a letter suggesting an audition, she thought it was signed "John Barkworth", whom she assumed to be an opera house official, and was astonished when she discovered that the signatory was in fact Barbirolli.

He appointed her second oboe for the London season and the subsequent eight-week provincial tour. Her first rehearsal with Barbirolli was for Ethel Smyth's opera The Wreckers. In her diary she wrote: "Ethel Smyth… very dictatorial. John Barbirolli is very nice, I think. Particular, though. Loses his temper quite suddenly and completely for only a few minutes." In 1933 Barbirolli, who the previous year had married the soprano Marjorie Parry, was appointed conductor of the Scottish Orchestra, as it was then called (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra), in Glasgow and he offered Evelyn Rothwell the post of first oboe. In the first season she was soloist in a Handel concerto, arranged for her by Barbirolli, as were later concertos which he adapted from music by Corelli, Pergolesi and Marcello. Her artistry and their mutual rapport can be heard in the recordings of these works they made some years later - particularly in the recording of Vaughan Williams's concerto which the composer admired intensely. Several composers wrote for her and she was a noted exponent of the concertos of Martin and Strauss.

Barbirolli's marriage was short-lived and his affection for Evelyn developed apace in Scotland. He had always admired her musicianship - the surest way to his heart - and a friend noted that her playing, with its instinctive and sensitive phrasing and ravishing tone, had always had "the Barbirolli sound". They made a striking and contrasted pair in every way: he was very small and she very tall; he had a Latin-Gallic temperament, she was understatedly English. They shared a keen sense of humour (both were superb raconteurs) and a love of good food, wine and objets d'art. The Scottish Orchestra had only a five-month season in those years, so in the summers Evelyn returned to Glyndebourne and to freelance work with the LSO and to Radio Luxembourg broadcasts with Fred Hartley's Quintet. In 1936 Sir Henry Wood appointed her principal oboe of the New Queen's Hall Orchestra (she is the oboist in his famous recording of Vaughan Williams's London Symphony). In 1936 Barbirolli went to New York as conductor of the New York Philharmonic in succession to Toscanini.

Evelyn Rothwell remained for a time at the Scottish Orchestra, where Georg Szell became conductor (and once proposed to her). Barbirolli's divorce was made absolute in June 1939 and he and Evelyn were married at Holborn on July 5. Barbirolli used to describe amusingly his apprehension about her father's reaction: "I was small, a foreigner, a musician, a Roman Catholic and getting divorced - everything he'd disapprove." But they got on famously, as did Evelyn with John's Italian and French relatives. As Evelyn herself remarked: "Dear John, he was such a good Christian and such a bad Catholic." He was in a liner returning from New York when Britain declared war. Evelyn Rothwell had been unable to obtain a visa and did not join her husband in America until October. She was with him there until their return to England and the Hallé in the summer of 1943. Among her memories of those years was that of playing chamber music with José Iturbi and the Horowitzes, with the actor Edward G Robinson turning the pages for Barbirolli's cello-playing.

Evelyn Rothwell shared fully in Barbirolli's remarkable restoration of the Hallé's fortunes in Manchester. Occasionally in the first season she played in the orchestra, though she did so unwillingly in case it should be regarded as nepotism. She also limited her appearances as soloist with the Hallé. On the orchestra's tour of Austria in 1948 she gave, in Salzburg, the first performance of the oboe concerto by Mozart which had previously been known only in its transcription for flute. In the early Manchester days she acted as Barbirolli's secretary and driver. He relied implicitly on her musical judgment. When the Hallé played in an unfamiliar hall, she would move about in the auditorium at rehearsal to check the balance for him. At recordings he liked her to be in the control-box, knowing she would be fearlessly (but tactfully) candid about the performance. Although still in demand as an oboist, particularly in chamber music - in her youth she had made some famous recordings with the Busch Quartet - Evelyn Rothwell increasingly subjugated her career to looking after Barbirolli as his health declined through his insatiable workload.

From the 1960s, when he added the Houston Symphony Orchestra to his Hallé post, she travelled abroad with him whenever she could, coping with the severe bouts of depression from which he had always suffered and, in his last years, with the cardiac collapses such as occurred once on the steps of the National Theatre, Munich. She had long before accepted that asking him to take things easier was merely to invite a storm of vituperation. They had less and less time to enjoy their mutual hobby of collecting antique glass and to entertain friends at their Salford home, John cooking the meal, Evelyn looking after everything else. Their last years were clouded by a crisis in their financial affairs caused by dishonesty and betrayal on the part of Barbirolli's former personal manager. In May 1970 a priest friend performed the religious wedding ceremony which their register office marriage had denied them (Evelyn never became a Catholic). Barbirolli died in London two months later, on July 29. After his death Evelyn dropped Rothwell as her professional name and became Evelyn Barbirolli, something she had been loth to do in his lifetime.

She resumed playing and taught at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was "Lady B" to everyone. She revealed her gifts as a gardener, and accepted many invitations to adjudicate at woodwind competitions in Britain and in Munich and Prague, cities she loved. As a teacher she was described as "judge, teacher, adjudicator, understanding aunt and mother confessor". She was patient with stupidity, intolerant of laziness and invariably constructive in her advice. She would also frankly tell someone when they had no hope of becoming any good. Her pupils valued this uncompromising honesty and her interest in them as people. Many of the leading orchestral oboists today were her pupils. One whom she coached rather than taught was the late Janet Craxton, the Hallé's first oboe, whom Evelyn regarded as the finest player she had heard. She wrote Oboe Technique and later, in three volumes, The Oboist's Companion, perhaps the definitive book on the instrument. In 2002 her charming but occasionally waspish autobiography, Living with Glorious John, was published. She was appointed OBE in 1984.

Her loyalty to her husband's memory, while never overbearing, was the light of her life in the years after his death. She leaves a host of friends who speak of her only in terms of unalloyed affection. Evelyn Barbirolli - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia I am Smart, Intelligent and Hard Working who Loves to help :) Evelyn Barbirolli Education Royal College of Music Role Oboist Died January 25, 2008, London, United Kingdom Books Oboe Technique, Life with glorious John, The Oboist's Companion Similar People John Barbirolli, Leon Goossens, Lionel Tertis, The Halle, Valda Aveling Evelyn, Lady Barbirolli OBE (24 January 1911 – 25 January 2008) was an English oboist, and the wife of the eminent conductor Sir John Barbirolli. Sponsored Links She was born Evelyn Rothwell, and was known professionally by that name until after she was widowed, when she became known as Evelyn Barbirolli. She rose to fame at a time when there were very few women in orchestras except for harpists.

Early years Evelyn Rothwell was born in Wallingford-on-Thames, Berkshire, the daughter of a tea dealer in the City of London. Her mother was related to Charles Reade, a novelist of the Victorian era. She did not take up the oboe until she was 17, when she started to learn at her school, Downe House, near Newbury, under the headship of Olive Willis. Her father was not supportive of her studying music, but her mother encouraged her to enter the Royal College of Music. She studied the oboe there with Leon Goossens. She also learned the piano as a second instrument, and played the cello and the timpani. Benjamin Britten, nearly three years younger, was also a student there and he got her to play through some of his compositions for oboe. She started her professional career by deputising for Leon Goossens in the Drury Lane Orchestra. She was soon appointed second oboe with the Covent Garden touring company, which was conducted by John Barbirolli. Barbirolli was married, although the marriage was not to last. Barbirolli was then made conductor of the Scottish Orchestra (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra).

He appointed Evelyn as first oboe in the orchestra. He arranged several works for oboe and orchestra for her, including a concerto by Handel. Several of these are on recordings they made. Ralph Vaughan Williams was particularly pleased with their recording of his Oboe Concerto. Several composers dedicated works to her, including Arnold Cooke, Stephen Dodgson, Arthur Benjamin, Edmund Rubbra and Elizabeth Maconchy. The nature of her work with the Scottish Orchestra allowed her also to play from 1934 to 1938 in the Glyndebourne Festival, and from 1935 to 1939 with the London Symphony Orchestra, where she and her friend Natalie Caine were the first women woodwind players. Henry Wood made her first oboist in the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra. Years of marriage Rothwell married John Barbirolli in 1939, after his divorce from his first wife. By this time Barbirolli was conductor of the New York Philharmonic, where he had succeeded Arturo Toscanini in 1936.

Barbirolli and Rothwell lived in New York until 1943, when they returned to England so Barbirolli could take over the conductorship of the Halle Orchestra, based in Manchester. Rothwell occasionally played in the orchestra, although she kept her appearances there to a minimum in order to avoid charges of nepotism. When the Halle Orchestra performed in Salzburg in 1948, she was the soloist in the first performance of Mozart's Oboe Concerto, K. 314 since its rediscovery and republication. She also appeared in duet with the pianist Iris Loveridge. Rothwell played the British premiere of Bohuslav Martinu's Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra, at the Proms on 24 August 1959, after the concerto's creator and dedicatee Jiri Tancibudek was unable to appear. In Manchester, Rothwell devoted herself to helping Barbirolli. She was his secretary and chauffeured him everywhere. She was always present at rehearsals, and he relied on her advice on matters of balance as she listened in the auditorium.

As Barbirolli's health deteriorated she hardly played her oboe, devoting her time to him. She travelled with him to the United States when he became conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. During his last years, Barbirolli's former manager caused them severe financial problems. After John Barbirolli's death After her husband's death in 1970, Rothwell, now using her late husband's last name, started to play her oboe again. She taught at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was affectionately known as "Lady B". She frequently appeared as adjudicator at music festivals. She wrote the books Oboe Technique and the three-volume Oboist's Companion, and her autobiography Living with Glorious John. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1984. She died in 2008, the day after her 97th birthday. Evelyn Rothwell : Wikis (The Full Wiki) The Full Wiki More info on Evelyn Rothwell Wikis Evelyn Rothwell: Wikis Advertisements Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article!

This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . (Redirected to Evelyn Barbirolli article) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Evelyn, Lady Barbirolli OBE (24 January 1911 – 25 January 2008) was an English oboist , and wife of the conductor Sir John Barbirolli . She was born Evelyn Rothwell, and was known professionally by that name until after she was widowed, when she became known as Evelyn Barbirolli. She rose to fame at a time when there were very few women in orchestras except for harpists . [1] Contents 4 External links Early years Evelyn Rothwell was born in Wallingford-on-Thames , Berkshire , the daughter of a tea dealer in the City of London . Her mother was related to Charles Reade , a novelist of the Victorian era . She did not take up the oboe until she was 17, when she started to learn at her school, Downe House , near Newbury , under the headship of Olive Willis .

Her father was not supportive of her studying music, but her mother encouraged her to enter the Royal College of Music . She studied the oboe there with Léon Goossens . She also learned the piano as a second instrument, and played the cello and the timpani . Benjamin Britten , nearly three years younger, was also a student there and he got her to play through some of his compositions for oboe. She started her professional career by deputising for Léon Goossens in the Drury Lane Orchestra. She was soon appointed second oboe with the Royal Opera House touring company, which was conducted by John Barbirolli . Barbirolli was married, although the marriage was not to last. Barbirolli was then made conductor of the Scottish Orchestra (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra ). He appointed Evelyn as first oboe in the orchestra. He arranged several works for oboe and orchestra for her, including a concerto by Handel . Several of these are on recordings they made. Ralph Vaughan Williams was particularly pleased with their recording of his Oboe Concerto.

Several composers dedicated works to her, including Arnold Cooke , Stephen Dodgson , Arthur Benjamin , Edmund Rubbra and Elizabeth Maconchy . The nature of her work with the Scottish Orchestra allowed her also to play, from 1934 to 1938 in the Glyndebourne Festival , and from 1935 to 1939 with the London Symphony Orchestra , where she and her friend Natalie Caine were the first women woodwind players. [2] Henry Wood made her first oboist in the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra. Years of marriage Evelyn Rothwell married John Barbirolli in 1939 after he had divorced his first wife. By this time Barbirolli was conductor of the New York Philharmonic , where he had succeeded Arturo Toscanini in 1936. Barbirolli and Evelyn lived in New York until 1943, when they returned to England so that Barbirolli could take over the conductorship of the Hallé Orchestra , based in Manchester . Evelyn occasionally played in the orchestra, although she kept her appearances there to a minimum in order to avoid charges of nepotism .

When the Hallé Orchestra performed in Salzburg in 1948 she was the soloist in the first performance of Mozart 's Oboe Concerto, K. 314 , a work which at that time was only known in the version arranged for flute and orchestra. She also appeared in duet with the pianist Iris Loveridge . In Manchester, Evelyn devoted herself to helping Barbirolli. She was his secretary and chauffeured him everywhere. She was always present at rehearsals and he relied on her advice on matters of balance as she listened in the auditorium. As Barbirolli's health deteriorated she hardly played her oboe but devoted her time to him. She travelled with him to the United States when he became conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra . During his last years, Barbirolli's former manager reportedly caused them severe financial problems. [1] Advertisements After John Barbirolli's death After her husband's death in 1970, Evelyn started to play her oboe again. She taught at the Royal Academy of Music , where she was affectionately known as "Lady B". She frequently appeared as adjudicator at music festivals.

She wrote the books Oboe Technique and the three-volume Oboist's Companion, and her autobiography Living with Glorious John. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1984. She died the day after her 97th birthday. External references The Classical Music Guide Forums • View topic - A Belated Obit for Evelyn Rothwell, Lady Barbirolli A Belated Obit for Evelyn Rothwell, Lady Barbirolli Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:01 pm Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 1:06 pm Posts: 8722 Location: Albuquerque, NM, USA 87112, 2 blocks west of the Breaking Bad carwash.

Evelyn Rothwell, Lady Barbirolli, oboist, born January 24 1911; died January 25 2008 An outstanding oboist, and the first modern performer of the concerto by Mozart June Emerson Tuesday January 29, 2008 The Guardian Luck, fate, or whatever you care to call it, played a more than usually strong part in the career of the distinguished oboist Evelyn Rothwell, who has died aged 97. Though reluctant to use the name of her husband, the great conductor Sir John Barbirolli, during his lifetime, after his death in 1970 she dropped Rothwell as her professional name and was known as Evelyn Barbirolli. Born in Wallingford-on-Thames, Berkshire, Evelyn was educated at Downe House, near Newbury. Unusually for a girls' school then, it had a full orchestra. She was in the choir for most of her time there, but during her last term both the oboists in the orchestra left, and she was persuaded to take up the instrument to fill the gap.

She was given a cheap oboe and lessons with a local amateur, who, among other things, told her to grip the instrument between her knees to hold it steady. After six months of battling with it, Evelyn was encouraged by a musical aunt, rather against her will, to try for a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London. "I could barely play the thing," she said, though she was awarded an initial one-year scholarship based on her potential. It was by good fortune that there were so few oboe players around at the time, and the then principal, Sir Hugh Allen, told her: "If you do what I think you'll do, I'll renew the scholarship for three years" - which, of course, he did. She soon acquired a better instrument, a Louis (predecessor of the present Howarth oboes). Evelyn's professor was Leon Goossens, but he showed little interest in teaching. She badly needed practical help, and found it difficult to progress, feeling that by the end of her time at the college she had been "dragged up".

Many London theatres at that time had their own small orchestras, and Evelyn was frequently asked to deputise for other players during her student years. Playing at sight in the pit, often from illegible manuscripts, was a valuable experience. On one occasion, she was required to play on stage, behind the curtain, before the opening of a show. There was no music-stand, so she pinned her score to the curtain and began to play. Suddenly, the curtain began to rise, taking the music with it. Straining on tiptoe, she somehow managed to continue - and then improvise - for as long as necessary. There were plenty of other small jobs too: ensembles for BBC programmes, a weekly spot for Radio Luxembourg (always broadcasting live) and all-day sessions at Elstree film studios. Luck struck again while Evelyn was playing second oboe to Goossens in a production of Land of Smiles. He was absent one night, and she had to take on the first oboe part. A viola player noticed the quality of her playing and told his brother, a conductor, about her. He, in turn, invited Evelyn to audition for the Covent Garden Touring Orchestra.

She could not read the signature on his letter, but presumed it to be Barkworth, and went along. He asked her to play a difficult extract from The Bartered Bride, which she could not manage, but she promised to practise it. He offered her the job. His name proved not to be Barkworth, but Barbirolli. After two years, Evelyn went on to play with the Scottish National Orchestra and at Glyndebourne; she later progressed to the London Symphony Orchestra, where she and fellow oboist Natalie Caine were the first women to join the ensemble. In July 1939 Evelyn married John, and her orchestral playing career came to an end. She went with her husband to the United States, where he was conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and they stayed there until 1943. Crossing the Atlantic, particularly in wartime, was difficult and dangerous, and when the Barbirollis wanted to return many strings had to be pulled (including special permission from Winston Churchill) to get them a passage on a neutral ship to Lisbon. There they were told that they had to wait a week for a flight to England.

The actor Leslie Howard was also in Lisbon, and when he decided to delay his return home, the couple exchanged tickets with him. They went on to Manchester, where John was to take charge of the Hallé Orchestra. A week later, they heard that the plane bringing Howard home had been shot down. After the idyllic years in the US, wartime Manchester came as something of a shock. There was no money and few players, and it was by sheer force of personality and hard work that John recreated the Hallé almost from scratch. At first, Evelyn worked in the orchestra office, but gradually began to practise the oboe again and developed a career as a soloist, first of all with the Hallé and then further afield. In 1948 she gave the first performance of the newly discovered Mozart Oboe Concerto at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She also performed the premiere of the Martinu Oboe Concerto, which was commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Several composers dedicated works to her. She collaborated closely with Gordon Jacob in the writing of his Oboe Concerto, which he originally dedicated to her.

For reasons of the prestige of the first performance, the dedication was changed to Goossens - an action Jacob later regretted. Arnold Cooke, Arthur Benjamin, Edmund Rubbra and Elizabeth Maconchy also wrote works for Evelyn, and John, who was knighted in 1949, arranged concertos from music by Corelli and Pergolesi. Evelyn had duos with the pianist Iris Loveridge and harpsichordist Valda Aveling, and taught at the Northern College of Music, Manchester, and later at the Royal Academy of Music, London. "We had a good system," she recalled. "There was Janet Craxton, Michael Dobson and Tess Miller, and we all used to swap pupils. Janet was good on intonation; I was good on breathing. It worked well!" The Barbirollis decided against having children, as their active careers would have made for a very unstable home life. They travelled and worked together a great deal until Sir John's death in July 1970. In later years Evelyn continued to travel widely, adjudicating at festivals and competitions.

She was perceptive, wise and kind, and had an astonishing capacity for remembering the names of students, even after very brief encounters. She was delighted when, in 1994, George Christie invited her to the opening of the new opera house at Glyndebourne. She had played there in the very first season, 60 years before. Her love of gardening developed into a passion, and her garden in Hampstead, north London, was featured in Country Life and occasionally opened to the public. _________________ Don't drink and drive. You might spill it.--J. Eugene Baker, aka my late father "We're not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term."--Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S. Carolina. "Racism is America's Original Sin."--Francis Cardinal George, former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago. Evelyn Barbirolli - Wikipedia, Photos and Videos Evelyn Barbirolli NEXT GO TO RESULTS [51 ..

100] WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE Jump to: navigation , search Evelyn, Lady Barbirolli OBE (24 January 1911 – 25 January 2008) was an English oboist , and the wife of the eminent conductor Sir John Barbirolli . She was born Evelyn Rothwell, and was known professionally by that name until after she was widowed, when she became known as Evelyn Barbirolli. She rose to fame at a time when there were very few women in orchestras except for harpists . [1] Contents Early years[ edit ] Evelyn Rothwell was born in Wallingford-on-Thames , Berkshire , the daughter of a tea dealer in the City of London . Her mother was related to Charles Reade , a novelist of the Victorian era. She did not take up the oboe until she was 17, when she started to learn at her school, Downe House , near Newbury , under the headship of Olive Willis . Her father was not supportive of her studying music, but her mother encouraged her to enter the Royal College of Music . She studied the oboe there with Léon Goossens .

She also learned the piano as a second instrument, and played the cello and the timpani . Benjamin Britten , nearly three years younger, was also a student there and he got her to play through some of his compositions for oboe. She started her professional career by deputising for Léon Goossens in the Drury Lane Orchestra. She was soon appointed second oboe with the Covent Garden touring company, which was conducted by John Barbirolli . Barbirolli was married, although the marriage was not to last. Barbirolli was then made conductor of the Scottish Orchestra (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra ). He appointed Evelyn as first oboe in the orchestra. He arranged several works for oboe and orchestra for her, including a concerto by Handel . Several of these are on recordings they made. Ralph Vaughan Williams was particularly pleased with their recording of his Oboe Concerto. Several composers dedicated works to her, including Arnold Cooke , Stephen Dodgson , Arthur Benjamin , Edmund Rubbra and Elizabeth Maconchy .

The nature of her work with the Scottish Orchestra allowed her also to play from 1934 to 1938 in the Glyndebourne Festival , and from 1935 to 1939 with the London Symphony Orchestra , where she and her friend Natalie Caine were the first women woodwind players. [2] Henry Wood made her first oboist in the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra . Years of marriage[ edit ] Rothwell married John Barbirolli in 1939, after his divorce from his first wife. By this time Barbirolli was conductor of the New York Philharmonic , where he had succeeded Arturo Toscanini in 1936. Barbirolli and Rothwell lived in New York until 1943, when they returned to England so Barbirolli could take over the conductorship of the Hallé Orchestra , based in Manchester . Rothwell occasionally played in the orchestra, although she kept her appearances there to a minimum in order to avoid charges of nepotism .

When the Hallé Orchestra performed in Salzburg in 1948, she was the soloist in the first performance of Mozart 's Oboe Concerto, K. 314 since its rediscovery and republication. She also appeared in duet with the pianist Iris Loveridge . Rothwell played the British premiere of Bohuslav Martinů 's Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra , at the Proms on 24 August 1959, after the concerto's creator and dedicatee Jiří Tancibudek was unable to appear. [3] [4] In Manchester, Rothwell devoted herself to helping Barbirolli. She was his secretary and chauffeured him everywhere. She was always present at rehearsals, and he relied on her advice on matters of balance as she listened in the auditorium. As Barbirolli's health deteriorated she hardly played her oboe, devoting her time to him. She travelled with him to the United States when he became conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra . During his last years, Barbirolli's former manager caused them severe financial problems.

[1] After John Barbirolli's death[ edit ] After her husband's death in 1970, Rothwell, now using her late husband's last name, started to play her oboe again. She taught at the Royal Academy of Music , where she was affectionately known as "Lady B". She frequently appeared as adjudicator at music festivals. She wrote the books Oboe Technique and the three-volume Oboist's Companion, and her autobiography Living with Glorious John. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1984. She died in 2008, the day after her 97th birthday. Sir John Barbirolli (conductor) on CD - Buy online from Presto Classical Bonus track– Interview and concert preview – ABC Radio, Melbourne, 1951 Evelyn Rothwell (oboe) This 2-CD set celebrates Evelyn Rothwell – Lady Barbirolli (1911-2008) and features rare recordings of her performing concertos and chamber works. The recordings originate from Lady Barbirolli’s own archive.

Among the recordings selected for issue here it is good to find the Strauss Oboe Concerto, perhaps the greatest of the many concert for the instrument. Of her association with the Martinu concerto Evelyn was particularly proud. She was a friend of its dedicatee, the Czech player Jiri Tancubudek, and when he came over from Australia to introduce the concerto in Europe she was able to take over some of the performances he wasn’t able to honour, including its Proms première. It is especially good to hear Evelyn and Barbirolli in partnership in the Mozart Concerto K314. They gave the concerto’s first performance in the version that the Austrian musicologist and conductor Bernhard Paumgartner arranged and edited of the work (previously known only as a flute concerto). After the Salzburg première Evelyn introduced it at the Proms with the LSO under Basil Cameron. The circumstances surrounding the various performances of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Concerto da Camera are somewhat confusing.

The performance included here was given by the Barbirollis in a BBC studio on 6 October 1950, yet when Evelyn played it with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent at the Proms a year later (31 July 1951) it was announced as its first performance in England (in the BBC’s 1981 history of its symphony orchestra as a ‘World Première’). In 1956 when it was announced that illness would prevent Barbirolli’s appearances at the Proms, it was George Weldon who deputised for him in Geoffrey Bush’s Oboe Concerto. Little need be said about Vaughan Williams’s Concerto: the Barbirolli’s enjoyed an extraordinarily warm friendship with the composer and his wife, musically rewarded in the most handsome way with the dedication to the conductor of RVW’s Symphony No.8. The old composer seemed to have a special affection for Evelyn’s playing of it: ‘We listened to your record the other night, and it is lovely. I cannot imagine anything better in the way of a performance ...’ he wrote to her.

Hallé Orchestra , Sir John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli conducts Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.4 and the Martinů Oboe Concerto, with his wife Evelyn Rothwell as soloist, from the 1958 and 1959 Promenade Concerts. Evelyn Rothwell (Lady Barbirolli) recalled the Martinů concerto in her book Life with Gloriuous John: “I made great friends with the oboist Jiri Tancibudek. Many years ago he had left his native Czechoslovakia to make his life in Australia, where he had a most successful career..... Martinů’s Oboe Concerto was written for him and he has recorded it on CD, having studied it with the composer.

Jiri came to Europe to introduce the work himself, but could not stay long enough to play the first performance in England, so I had the privilege of introducing this fine concerto at the Proms in London and other European cities.” “it is one of the strengths of Barbirolli's remarkable performance that he plays [the opening of the Tchaikovsky] as...burdened and foreboding, not as a fanfare...This is a performance to treasure for the truth of its perceptions.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2011 New York Philharmonic Orchestra , John Barbirolli These American Columbia recordings have been mastered from the original metals and lacquers and offer some amazing sound quality for recordings from the 1940s. The contrast between Toscanini and Barbirolli was symbolic of the contrast between two generations of conductors and the altering role of conductors. Toscanini was the supreme autocrat of the old school, ruling by terror, insult, tantrums and his own daemonic drive.

Barbirolli, over thirty years younger, was the benevolent autocrat, more democratic, ruling through comradeship with his players, inviting them and the audience to share his own delight in music. The contrast in their philosophy was reflected in their interpretations: Toscanini inspired awe for the music he conducted; Barbirolli inspired love and affection. It is overlooked that Barbirolli not only succeeded Toscanini in New York because for seven years he conducted almost alongside him, the one in Carnegie Hall, the other in the NBC studio. Of course, Barbirolli was not then the great conductor he was to become, for most conductors improve with age, but recordings (commercial and off-air) show that he was very good and that the orchestra had a rich and sensitive sound. (He himself confessed in his last years that he ‘sometimes smiled’ at the recollection of his younger interpretations; he constantly re-studied even the most familiar symphonies.) New York Philharmonic Orchestra , John Barbirolli These American Columbia recordings have been mastered from the original metals and lacquers and offer some amazing sound quality for recordings from the 1940s.

The contrast between Toscanini and Barbirolli was symbolic of the contrast between two generations of conductors and the altering role of conductors. Toscanini was the supreme autocrat of the old school, ruling by terror, insult, tantrums and his own daemonic drive. Barbirolli, over thirty years younger, was the benevolent autocrat, more democratic, ruling through comradeship with his players, inviting them and the audience to share his own delight in music. The contrast in their philosophy was reflected in their interpretations: Toscanini inspired awe for the music he conducted; Barbirolli inspired love and affection. It is overlooked that Barbirolli not only succeeded Toscanini in New York because for seven years he conducted almost alongside him, the one in Carnegie Hall, the other in the NBC studio. Of course, Barbirolli was not then the great conductor he was to become, for most conductors improve with age, but recordings (commercial and off-air) show that he was very good and that the orchestra had a rich and sensitive sound.

(He himself confessed in his last years that he ‘sometimes smiled’ at the recollection of his younger interpretations; he constantly re-studied even the most familiar symphonies.) Volume 2 (in a series of 4) features the famous recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No.27 with Robert Casadesus and a previously unpublished recording of the Clarinet Concerto with Benny Goodman. John Barbirolli In 1933 Evelyn Rothwell (1911-2008) had been working for two years in her first professional post as second oboist in the orchestra of the Covent Garden Touring Company, when she received an invitation to audition for the position as first oboe in the Scottish Orchestra. Her progress to the point where she was eligible to be considered for such a post had been rapid, for she had only started to play her chosen instrument a few years earlier in her late teens. She had spent some time with Léon Goossens as a student at the Royal College of Music. Evelyn Rothwell gave the first performance of the Pergolesi Concerto in December 1935, with Barbirolli conducting the Scottish Orchestra.

In 1939 Evelyn Rothwell married Barbirolli, and joined him in the USA, where he had been musical director of the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra for three years. At one concert, Evelyn Barbirolli played the Pergolesi Concerto, and she was heard by the Australian composer Arthur Benjamin. Benjamin was very taken by the arrangement, and offered to put together a similar work based on music by Domenico Cimarosa. Nothing was heard from him until the Barbirollis were leaving Vancouver by train on a journey to Los Angeles, where John was engaged to conduct concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. The train was already starting to move when Benjamin suddenly appeared and thrust the newly completed score into the surprised Evelyn’s hands. In 1945 John Barbirolli put together his second concerto arrangement for his wife to play, this time using pieces by Corelli. Here he selected five movements from sonatas for violin and basso continuo, transcribing the violin part for oboe and elaborating the figured bass of the originals into an accompaniment for string orchestra.

In both this work and the Pergolesi concerto Barbirolli took care to preserve the spirit and style of the original compositions. Previous editions of the Marcello recording have carried the information that it is played in an arrangement by Bonelli, though in fact Lady Barbirolli always played her own version of the work. BERLIOZ The Damnation of Faust, op.24 • Hallé Orchestra 1957 Sir John Barbirolli and R. Kinloch Anderson The complete interview, recorded by EMI – 1964 Sir John Barbirolli This 2-CD set marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970) and features recordings ranging from boy cellist in 1911 to international conductor 1969 – in both ‘live’ and studio recordings. John Barbirolli was born in Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, on 2 December 1899, a Cockney as he proudly boasted. Or, to be accurate, Giovanni Battista Barbirolli was born, son of an Italian émigré violinist and his French wife.

English-born with Italo-French parentage – a wonderful pedigree for a musician. And so it proved, for he conducted Elgar, Verdi and Debussy, Vaughan Williams, Puccini and Ravel, with equal sensitivity and perception and intuition. This album of recordings forms a kind of musical biography; and Michael Kennedy’s notes (with many rare photos) trace that life alongside the recordings. A special bonus is the 1947 Austrian Radio recording of two works, Weber’s Euryanthe overture and Delius’s Walk to the Paradise Garden, from the Salzburg Festival concert on 20 August at which he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic. Was this, Michael Kenneday asks, the first time this orchestra had played the Delius? Two rare mementos of the New York period are included in this album. Anthony Collins had long been a friend of Barbirolli (they played in the LSO together) and worked in the USA from 1936 to 1945 and his Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, based on the two comic characters in Twelfth Night, is an example of his overlooked talent.

Another composer almost forgotten today is the Czech-born Jaromir Weinberger whose opera Schwanda the Bagpiper enjoyed inter-war popularity. His Christmas for organ and orchestra was composed in 1929. In 1939 he dedicated his Variations and Fugue on an old English tune, ‘Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree’ to Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic. John Barbirolli Lady Barbirolli's recorded performances, when heard on radio here and abroad, invariably strike a distinct and responsive chord with listeners. What a joy, therefore, that more of them exist in the archives to be made available through this second issue. The music of the Marcello and Corelli concerti will already be familiar to purchasers of Volume One, published by The Barbirolli Society (SJB1009), but the performances featured here are, of course, not the same: a decade separates them from the earlier ones.

But as on that disc Miss Rothwell played to accompaniments conducted by her husband, Sir John Barbirolli [1899-1970], while the fact that they recorded the Marcello Concerto together twice and the Corelli three times – there was a 78rpm performance made in 1946 – speaks eloquently of the enduring musical worth and appeal among listeners of this musical partnership in these highly attractive pieces. As well as concertos, the CD also features Evelyn in chamber works. The Sonatas by Telemann and C P E Bach were based by Evelyn Rothwell and her harpsichordist friend Valda Aveling on manuscripts found in Copenhagen and at the Royal Conservatoire of Music in Brussels. The items originally recorded for HMV at the end of the 78rpm era recall another of Evelyn Rothwell’s favourite musical collaborators, Wilfrid Parry. Their perform together in the charming Sonata by Jean-Baptiste Loeillet and the arrangement of Handel’s Air and Rondo – a delectable little miniature. The moving Melody by Welsh composer and conductor, John Morgan Nicholas, was composed in memory of a daughter who died young.

Another recital piece is the harpsichord-accompanied Siciliana by the English singer and songwriter Michael Head.

Question: Musician Evelyn Rothwell (Lady Barbirolli) died in January 2008, what instrument did she play?
Answer: OBOE